THE REPTILES AND BATRACHIA OF BARKUDA 



ISLAND. 



By N. Annandale, D.Sc, F.A.S.B. 



The reptiles are proportionately well represented on Barkuda 

 by 6 lizards, lo snakes and one, or possibly two, crocodiles, i.c, 

 by seventeen or eighteen species in all. With one noteworthy 

 exception all these are, however, widely distributed and adaptable 

 animals. The exception is the limbless skink Barkudia insulans, 

 which has probably escaped notice elsewhere on account of its 

 burrowing habits. Most of the species are, moreover, scarce on 

 the island, and several are represented in my collection by single 

 specimens. Only two species of Batrachia, both common and 

 widely distributed, have been observed. 



Reptiles. 



Gavialis gangeticus (Gmel.). I have not seen the gharial on 

 Barkuda myself but several trustworthy observers tell me they 

 have done so. 



Crocodilus palustris (Lesson). A single individual of this 

 species takes up its abode every year in the rainy season on a sand- 

 bank at the N.E. corner of the island. 



Hemidactylus brookii, Gray. I have not seen this gecko, 

 one of the common house-lizards of Calcutta, on Barkuda recently, 

 but took a specimen some years ago on the shore, feeding on sand- 

 hoppers {Orcheslia plateiisis). 



Hemidactylus jrenatus, D & B. This is much the most 

 abundant reptile on the island and is equally at home on the 

 walls and ceiling of the bungalow, on the trunks of various 

 species of fig-tree, and among stones on the shore, where it feeds 

 on sand-hoppers. The eggs are usually deposited in the trunks of 

 trees. The}^ have a thin, brittle shell and are broadly oval or 

 almost spherical in shape, about 8 ram. long and 7 mm. in maxi- 

 mum transverse diameter. Several are usually found together, 

 but adhering neither to one another nor to extraneous objects. 



Calotes versicolor major, Blyth. The Peninsular race of 

 C. versicolor, though not abundant, is by no means scarce on 

 Barkuda. 



Vnraniis bengalensis (Daud.). B'requently seen, singly and 

 m pairs, on the island. In September, 1920, a half-grown indivi- 

 dual was dug out of the interior of a mound of Tennes {Odonio- 

 terines) obesiis, but a burrow is usually made among stones or the 

 roots of fig-trees. The lizard is, unlike some of its congeners. 



